Man Expecting Minor Surgery Gets Accidental Vasectomy Instead

A man being treated for a minor urological problem woke from surgery to discover he'd been given a vasectomy instead.

Doctors at the Royal Liverpool Hospital have "apologized unreservedly" for the mistake, and are working to see if it's reversible.

According to the hospital, the man went into surgery for treatment for a minor urological disorder. Somewhere along the lines, though, the surgeon becomes confused and performed the operation on the "wrong site," as the Telegraph put it.

"We can confirm a patient who was scheduled to have a different minor urological procedure was wrongly given a vasectomy," Dr Peter Williams, the hospital's medical director, said in a statement. "We have apologized unreservedly to the patient and we are offering him our full support. We greatly regret the distress this has caused him... This is a serious incident and we are investigating this fully to understand why it occurred and how we can ensure it does not happen again."

The apology might not be enough, though; one lawyer told the Telegraph the mistake could cost the hospital as much as $170,000.

"In a worst-case scenario – sterility in a younger man with no children – the trust might be liable for a figure in excess of £100,000 in compensation," Ian Cohen, a clinical negligence lawyer at Slater & Gordon, said.